Ronald J. Sider

The 1996 welfare reform bill includes a Charitable Choice provision that allows churches and other faith-based organizations (FBOs) to contract with state governments to administer welfare programs in their communities, as long as beneficiaries are not required to participate in religious activities. President George W. Bush has plans to expand Charitable Choice to allow FBOs to play a greater role in providing assistance to the needy. Ronald J. Sider contends in the following viewpoint that FBOs can succeed in reducing poverty where government welfare programs have failed by providing moral guidance, a sense of family, and links to jobs and other resources within their communities. According to the author, FBOs can raise funds through private donations to support the religious component of their outreach. Sider is a professor of theology and culture at Eastern Seminary...